Darkness
by NY-makes-me-happy
Summary: Very long one-Shot. Lindsay wakes up in a dark room, dizzy and disorientated. Mentions of sexual assault.


**Just a quick one-shot. Hope you like. just popped into my head. Weird, I know!**

Lindsay awoke with a start. She took a moment to focus her eyes, but she immediately knew she wasn't in her bed. She could feel a cold breeze over her legs and the sounds of the city were much louder than normal. Even when she managed to sit herself up her eyes were still blurry and her head was throbbing in pain. She looked around as best she could. The room was dark but she could see some large windows on the wall opposite and some tall shelves which looked practically empty. It was then that she noticed she was on the floor, a cold cement floor, she could feel the dirt under her hands as she tried to make sense of her surroundings. Her eyes were beginning to clear, she could see that her arms were scratched to hell; she'd seen it so many times, defensive wounds. She looked at her hands; there was something dark and sticky under her fingernails. She could only assume it was blood, but who's? She looked down at her legs, the thick black tights she'd had on earlier were gone and in this light she couldn't see them anywhere. As she was glancing around she noticed her gun, shining in the darkness, not far from her right hand. She picked it up, the barrel of the gun felt warm, it had been recently fired, but at who? She continued to look around her; she could see a dark figure to her left, laid on the floor, not moving. She slid over to inspect her companion, it was a man, he had dark, menacing eyes which were fixed open. He had a scruffy beard and smelt terrible. His face had scratches on the cheeks, she looked at his arms, they were also scratched, and looking down at her own hands she realised who's the blood was. Her head was still throbbing she brought her hand to the back of it and felt something warm and wet, she was bleeding. That was when she noticed something in his hand she grabbed it from him, inspecting it, it was her underwear. She dropped it on the floor, her mind was racing, and she was beginning to piece together what had happened. It was then she noticed them, the bullet holes in his torso, one to the shoulder, one to the heart. She stood up, stumbling at the loss of blood and staggered towards what she thought was a door. Opening it she felt the breeze immediately hit her, she squinted at the brightness of the sun shining down on her. She looked to the floor where she saw her purse, its contents spilling out onto the ground, including her cell phone. Her hands shaking she picked it up; quickly going through her phonebook to the only person she could think of and hit the call button.

"_Messer"_

"Danny!"

"_Montana. What's up?"_

"Danny, I don't know where I am..."

"_Get drunk again did we?"_

"Danny will you shut up and listen..." the tears building up in her eyes, "...I think...I dunno... Danny" she couldn't get the words out, she began to cry own the phone, sliding down the wall behind her, not paying attention to the jagged bricks scratching her skin.

"_Lindsay, Lindsay talk to me"_

"I don't know, I woke up and it was dark and my gun was next to me, there's a man, I think I shot him" she couldn't continue, the tears were already making it hard for Danny to tell what she was saying.

"_Linds, do you know where you are?"_

"No, Danny, Please come and find me, please, I'm scared Danny"

"_Montana, listen to me, describe to me where you are, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere."_

Lindsay looked around her surroundings, she could tell she was in an alley, she looked to her left where she could see a typically busy New York street, although too far away that anyone would notice the crying woman curled up by the wall. She noticed a store through the entrance to the alley way. She's passed it many times on her way to work; it was barely half a block away.

"_Lindsay, talk to me, what do you see?"_

Lindsay sobbed, "I can see that bakery we always go to down the road from the lab, it's across the road from the alley" her crying was beginning to subside.

"_I coming Lindsay, stay right there."_

"Hurry Danny, please, I'm c..." Lindsay began to feel faint again, and then it went black.

"_LINDSAY, LINDSAY, baby please talk to me LINDSAY!"_

There was no response. Danny kept his phone to his ear, waiting for Lindsay to speak and ran to Mac's office explaining the conversation he had just had. Mac immediately rang for back up and EMT, yelling to Danny to hold on, but he didn't hear, he was already running towards the alley where Lindsay was lying unconscious, all the time shouting her name down the phone in vain hopes of a response. He reached the bakery she had seen, looking across the road he saw an alley. He ran across the road, narrowly avoiding being hit by the busy New York traffic. Horns beeped at him as he dashed between the cars, bit he heard nothing; he was still listening for Lindsay to respond. When he reached the alley his eyes frantically scanned the area until they came to rest on a body in the distance.

He ran to her, when he reached her he could tell immediately what had happened, her shirt was ripped, scratches marred the perfect skin on her small arms. There was a bright red welt on her right cheek, she had no shoes on and he legs had dirty hand prints all over them. Her hands were covered in blood, it was then he noticed the blood on the wall, where her head had previously rested. He pulled his own hand away from her head to reveal bright claret staining his own hands.

"Lindsay, Lindsay wake up, please baby, wake up" tears were streaming down his own face and dropping onto hers.

At that moment Mac arrived along with the other officers and the EMT's, he immediately saw a distraught Danny cradling Lindsay in his arms. He ran up alongside them, with the EMT's close behind and grabbed Danny's shoulder to pull him back as the EMT's did their job. Danny was sobbing uncontrollably onto Mac's shoulder as he had the night Louie was attacked. That night he had sworn never to show vulnerability to his boss again, but he couldn't help it, thinking that someone could have done that to her, to his Montana. He joined her in the ambulance, refusing to let go of her hand. Mac could only watch with hope that his young CSI would be OK; tears were building in his own eyes now as he thought of how he had handpicked her from Bozeman. He had known it would be difficult for her in the city but he never imagined this would happen. It was then 

that he vowed to find out what had happened. He entered the building Lindsay had emerged from not 15 minutes ago, processing kit in hand.

Mac was joined later my Hawkes and Stella who, hearing what had happened, immediately dropped their own cases without a second thought.

When they arrived at the hospital Lindsay was immediately rushed into the emergency room, leaving Danny standing outside the door, looking through the glass, frustrated at how helpless he was. Whilst he was doing this he was questioned by one of the nurses, he explained everything, not taking his eyes off her for a second. After 30 minutes he watched as a doctor walked towards him ushering him into a nearby family room.

"How is she?"

"She lost a lot of blood, but she's going to be alright, physically. I'm sure you understand what I am referring to. We have yet to collect a sexual assault kit but I think it is clearly evident from what you have described to my colleague and from what I have seen in her injuries what happened to this young woman."

Danny simply nodded, "but she'll be alright?"

"She'll be fine, she's still unconscious, but we're moving her to a private room for observation. As soon as she is in there I will ask a nurse to come and get you.

"Thank you doctor."

As the doctor left Danny's cell phone rang, it was Mac.

"Messer" he answered, clear exhaustion in his voice. Although it had only been about an hour since he received her call this had been the first moment he had had to come close to relaxing.

"_Danny, how is she?"_

"She's still unconscious, but she's gonna be fine."

"_I'm in the warehouse with Hawkes and Stella, we're processing the scene but I thought you should know. We found her gun, 2 bullets missing. We also found a body, one bullet wound to the shoulder, one to the chest."_

"Thanks Mac" was all he could respond. Closing his phone he couldn't help but run through what could have happened to her in that alley and he felt anger building up in his body, not only for the man who did it, but for all the people that must have walked past the end of that alley while it was happening, too busy in their lives to notice.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a nurse. "You can see her now"

He stood immediately, following the nurse to her room. "I'll see if I can get you some scrubs to change into" she said as he entered the room, looking down at his clothes, he was covered in blood, her blood. He sat in the chair next to her bed. She looked so peaceful despite her injuries. He grabbed her hand and began stroking her hair with the other. He leant down to whisper in her ear.

"Montana, it's me baby, it's Danny, you gotta wake up cos..." his voice broke with emotion, "... cos I'm so scared, I can't live without seeing your smile again baby, so you gotta wake up. Come on Montana."

Just then he felt her squeeze his hand, his head shot up to look at her.

"Lindsay, Lindsay, open your eyes; let me see those beautiful eyes Lindsay."

Her eyes flickered for a moment then opened to reveal the brown eyes Danny loved so much.

"There you are baby, I was so scared Lindsay."

"I told you not to call me that" she said weakly, a smile tugging at her lips.

Danny couldn't help but smile, "Sorry Montana" tears still streaming down his face.

Lindsay raised a hand to his face to wipe his tears away when she saw her arms, the scratches; it all came back to her. She jumped back, removing her hand from Danny's grip. Danny, visibly shocked by the sudden change in her mood, held a hand out to her, but she stayed retreated from him, brought her knees up to her chest and began to cry as she wrapped her arms around her shins.

Danny had no idea what to do; he just sat in the chair with her, crying together.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, each going over what had happened in the past few hours in their heads when Lindsay reached a hand out to Danny and shifted over in her bed. He took her hand and she pulled it towards her, signalling for him to sit next to her on the bed. He did as she wished and she rested her head on his chest, the tears began again, he wrapped his arms around her, she felt so small in his arms. They continued to sit like this for what could have been hours until Lindsay stopped crying. She lifted her head to meet Danny's eyes, her previously sparkling brown eyes now red and bloodshot.

"Can you get the nurse please Danny?"

"Yeah sure, what's up?"

"I want to get this over with." She said simply, but she didn't need to add any more, he knew what she was talking about.

Danny slid off her bed, giving her a loving glance as he did; he thought about kissing her but decided it was too soon.

"Thank you Danny, for coming to get me."

"No worries Li... Montana"

Danny left Lindsay in the room to get the nurse, he explained what she wanted and the nurse simply nodded in agreement. Danny could only watch as the nurse entered the room and drew the curtains. He knew what was happening and he wanted to be there, to hold her hand and tell her everything would be ok.

Danny had just sat down on the chair outside her room when he heard Mac's voice round the corner; he stood and followed his bosses' voice who was stood at the nurses' station looking very angry, Stella and Flack behind him.

"Mac, down here"

Mac looked up, nodded to Danny and began to walk towards him.

"Danny" Mac put a supportive hand on Danny's shoulder. Secretly Danny was glad; anymore hugs and he would have broken down again. He wasn't sure how many more tears he had to shed. He nodded to the others who simply stood there.

"How is she?" asked Stella, who had obviously been crying.

"They're doing the SAE kit now. She woke up a while ago. She seems alright, physically."

His colleagues simply nodded.

"Danny, we have processed the scene and Hawkes is at the lab processing the evidence now, but I think it's pretty clear what happened" Mac stated.

"Is he dead?" Danny asked matter of factly, returning his gaze to the window of Lindsay's room where the nurse was pulling back the curtain and signalling him to come in.

"Yes" replied Mac

"Good" said Danny as he made his way back to Lindsay's beside.

As he made his way to Lindsay's bedside he could see her expression had changed to one of anger.

"Mac and everyone are outside." He said, sitting in the chair he had sat in previously.

"Did they finish the scene?" she asked, her eyes not leaving the spot she had focussed on the wall.

"Yeah."

"Is he dead?"

"Yeah."

"Good. They can come in."

Danny signalled for the others to come in, who were stood at the window. Lindsay's eyes left their previously fixated spot and met her co-workers who were slowly entering her room.

"Hey Kiddo" said Stella, the first to enter.

"Hey." Lindsay replied.

"Linds..." said Flack, "... I know you don't wanna think about this now but, I'll have to take a statement soon."

"No, I want to do this now, before I forget anything" she replied.

No-one argued with her. They signalled that they would leave but she asked them not to.

"You probably know more about what happened than me now anyway. I mean, you processed the scene."

Stella and Mac sat at the chairs to the other side of the room, Flack sat on the chair on the other side of the bed to Danny and Lindsay began to tell what happened.

"I was walking out of the lab on my way home; I think it was about ten in the morning. I'd been in the lab all night and at a scene all day. I was so tired. I was going to ring my mum so I stepped into the mouth of the alley for a second whilst I grabbed my phone. I could see a foot sticking out from behind a dumpster. I went to see what it was, I know it was stupid, but we always get called out to scenes where someone could've lived if someone had paid attention to the alley and gone to help. I didn't want to be one of those people who just ignore it. So I walked up to the dumpster, there was a guy laid on the floor, he wasn't moving so I lifted his arm off his face to see if he was breathing. God, it was so stupid I should've just left him. When I lifted his arm he jumped, he looked angry. He asked what I was doing; I said I was just making sure he was alright. He got angry, he pushed me into the door and I fell through it. I think that's when I banged my head. Everything was blurry from then on, I remember him dragging me across the floor, I remember kicking and scratching back. Then, then, oh god I don't know, I just remember waking up in the dark and ringing Danny."

Lindsay managed to get through the whole story with only a few tears, she didn't want to stop her train of thought and forget anything. Danny however, fought throughout the whole story to hold back the tears; he was so angry that he wasn't there to help her.

"That's great Lindsay, you remembered a lot, the rest might come back in time", Flack offered a hand of support. "I'd better get this to the precinct, and don't worry Linds, you were just following your instincts, any of us would've done the same thing."

"Thanks Flack." She replied as he left.

"Don's right Lindsay, you don't need to think that you did something wrong. You were just unlucky." Mac came and sat where Flack had previously been. "He could have been a mugging victim who was lying unconscious; you just followed the instincts that made you become a CSI in the first place."

"So he's dead?" she said, knowing the answer already.

"Yeah." Mac replied

"Do you know who is yet?"

"By the looks of him, we took a pretty well educated guess that he's homeless, so no driver's licence, ID anything. They're running his prints but it's doubtful we'll get anything."

Stella was still sat at the other side of the room, tears still in her eyes, "You look tired Kiddo, we should go"

"Thanks guys, I really just want to go home but the nurse says I have to stay at least tonight."

"Well, we'll be back to see you tomorrow, alright Kiddo." Stella replied coming over to give her friend a hug.

Stella and Mac left, Mac placing his hand on Danny's shoulder as he left supportively.

"Well, I suppose I'd better let you get some rest" Danny said reluctantly.

"Danny, will you stay, please, at least until I fall asleep?" Lindsay asked.

Trying to hide the relief in his eyes Danny nodded and sat back down, holding Lindsay's hands. It was getting late now and both of them were feeling exhausted. Danny fought to stay awake until he was sure that Lindsay was safely asleep, safely away from her memories of the day.

Danny finally fell asleep, still clutching Lindsay's hand, his head resting near hers on the edge of the bed. He was awoken by Lindsay moving angrily in the bed. He opened his eyes, she was still asleep, but was clearly having a nightmare; he knew what it was about. She shook her head side to side, her brow furrowed, her hands grabbing onto the sheets of the bed. Danny reached a hand out to steady her head, cupping her cheek. Whispering to her:

"Montana, baby, I'm here, it's just a dream baby, come on Montana." At the sound of his voice she noticeably calmed down, until she shot up all of a sudden. Danny immediately grabbed her hand as she began sobbing. "I'm sorry Danny, I'm sorry" she kept repeating over and over.

Danny sat on the side of her bed, pulling her into his embrace, trying to calm her down.

"What are you sorry for?" He asked.

"For going into that alley"

"Montana baby..." he said lifting her head with his hands, one on each cheek. Her eyes avoided his, he shook her head, "... look at me Montana..." her eyes met his, both filled with tears that they thought they had run out of, "... this isn't your fault, you don't need to be sorry."

"I just..." her eyes left his again.

"Just nothing baby, stop feeling like this, all you need to do is get better OK. I'll worry for you and I'll always be here for you. Nothing like this will ever happen to you again, I won't let it."

"You'll always be here?" she said, meeting his eyes again.

"Always."

**Please Review!**


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